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Gordon Hempton Seeks Out The Sound of Natural Silence

April 23, 2017
2 min read

Known as an acoustic ecologist, Gordon Hempton travels to untouched regions all over the globe to preserve the sounds of unfiltered nature.

Gordon Hempton’s mission is simple: record the last ‘quiet places’ of the world before they vanish. Known as an acoustic ecologist, Hempton travels all over the globe, desperate to preserve the sounds of unfiltered nature.

Gordon Hempton finding untouched nature
newsweek.com

CBS Sunday Morning recently caught up with Gordon Hempton and others trying to preserve these areas untouched by manufactured sound. These experts explain that finding these natural spots is near impossible because of air travel (airplanes and helicopters) and vehicles like motorcycles.

Gordon Hempton, who calls himself the Sound Tracker, is an “acoustic ecologist” who has traveled the world recording the sounds of nature, from birdsong and rainfall to babbling brooks and the rustling of leaves. But the noise we humans make is making it harder to find those quiet places – and, he says, it’s having real consequences for wildlife as well. Bernie Krause, a musician and sound recordist, has become an audio anthropologist, documenting the sounds of nature. He also has noticed dramatic changes in some areas, such as in a Costa Rican rain forest. He helps correspondent Lee Cowan (and us) listen to the difference.

Watch the first time CBS Sunday Morning met Gordon Hempton:

Sound recordist Gordon Hempton is an “acoustic ecologist” who has traveled the world recording the sounds of nature, from birdsong to babbling brooks. “Sunday Morning” visited with Hempton for this report, the first broadcast on November 18, 1990, in which he describes the process of capturing the natural world and searches for the optimal position at which to best hear the sound of the ocean’s waves.

Find out more about Gordon Hempton, The Sound Tracker, at soundtracker.com.

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